Admin control User settings and permissions.

We are a small call center operation that is growing quickly, and a new Ring Central customer.

I was very surprised to find out that as the Admin, I cannot block users from having access to settings such as call handling, caller ID, outbound fax settings, etc. that we do NOT want our users to be able to access.

We have very strict call processing rules and do not allow users to change anything other than their voicemail greeting (e.g. if they're going to be out of the office), but in order to enable them to send or receive faxes, or get voicemail messages in their email (which they need in order to do their jobs), I must associate an email address for each user with their user setup. This means that they COULD get access by using the "forgot password" link to reset the password or PIN.

Using the Softphone is also not a viable option, as they could modify their settings via the Softphone App. This is very unfortunate, as the Softphone is a great feature, but sadly we won't be able to utilize it.

What we really need is the ability to specify (on a PER FEATURE basis) whether or not the user should be able to access/modify features. This allows us to give somewhat greater control to Managers or others in the company who may have permission to route calls differently (say to their cell phone on a weekend), but NOT allow agents to modify anything other than their voicemail greeting, and some agents not even that (first-level agents in our call center during their first 90 days do not get access to voicemail - they are queue only agents.

This level of granular control is a feature we have with Nextiva, we are mid-transition to RingCentral for other reasons but really need this control to make a full switch.

@Rob, thanks for the clarification. We've been very clear with RC from our first phone call what our needs are and how we intend to use their service. We've been with Nextiva for a couple of years but are unhappy with them. Another call center that we do business with uses RC and suggested them to us. So if it is against their ToC, perhaps someone should tell their Sales staff that. :-) They clearly have a number of small call centers using them, as I checked around for references before agreeing to try them.

I'm a bit confused by the call center discussion that followed Trisha's original post. That said, the idea that she proposed is essential for our company as well and we are not a call center.

Although there are many ramifications of users being able to modify settings that we'd prefer to centrally control, one example is the the current setup gives users the ability to set their own screening rules, call connection messages, connect audio, on hold music, etc. With that level of user control, there's no way to enforce a consistent company brand for inbound calls. E.g., callers could listen to Bob's unauthorized custom Heavy Metal music if calls come to him or to Ann's daughter's flute lesson if calls come to her. Not good!!! This has to be a problem for any organization with more than a few users.

It would seem that a simple "Allow User Edit?" checkbox along side each field in the Admin Portal would solve this problem. Set the checkboxes to ON by default (mirroring the current setup) but allow Admins to toggle them to OFF for any settings that we wish to control centrally.

I have just confirmed that users can individually set an address to mail their statistics; this information is very important and is not easily available to managers in the RingCentral system. Further, without the ability to centrally manage who these reports go to, we must rely on the users to reliably update this information. This is a massive feature failure for a call-center software. Users already have the ability to define this metric delivery per-extension; please give admins the ability to edit this by extension or by call group without editing it for every user. Thanks!

Definitely, this is something that we, as Admins, really need. Sometime ago, we discover a couple of users, using their own music for "on hold" or for the greetings that are far from our "company standards"... I was required to standardize all the background/hold music, but this job can be easily ruined with a couple of clicks from the same users...

Here is the workaround I used - FAR from ideal, but the only solution I could come up with to keep users from messing with their settings.

1. They do NOT have their own passwords - I set them and keep a master list;2. I use an email 'alias' for each user - NOT their own email address, but a 'forwarder' that goes into one email inbox that only I have access to;

This way if they try to use the 'forgot password' link, I get the email.

I also use another email alias for notifications of things like missed calls or voicemail messages - they go to another inbox that only I can access. On a positive note, this allows me to see how many calls they are 'missing' and spot check voicemail messages to be sure calls are being returned promptly and handled properly.

This solution is only workable for me because we have a limited number of users on RingCentral - we decided to NOT migrate the rest of our company until they work out these issues and another huge issue for us, the lack of Call Pickup.

I've been told by an RC Rep that *some* of what we need is in their "Contact Center" product, which was not available when we signed up, but that is priced substantially more than the Office product we have now, and way more than what we were paying with Nextiva.....we switched from Nextiva (which already has the Admin control any call center manager needs) to try to save money, not spend three times as much. :-(

Thanks for sharing Trisha, I was thinking in the same approach but since the users needs their passwords for login into the Softphone... I didn't posted... It is a great workaround for users with only desktop phones, or I'm missing something ?

Hi Claudio......yes unfortunately that is a downside, no softphone and no mobile app.

In our case, we don't want our employees using those tools, so it's not a huge loss, and we do allow a couple of managers to use them, just not our first level contact agents.

But that brings us to another issue, which is that we cannot allow our users to get their voicemail messages in their email, because the email message body that accompanies the voicemail attachment encourages the recipient to download those tools......grrrr....

Mmmm so you are loosing tools like chat and fax from computer because this problem. And keeps you busy with "domestic" stuffs. Bad.Your last paragraph brings other idea, the capability to use our own templates for those email notifications...

As an admin it would be good to be able to change an employee's status on their phone if they forgot to toggle the switch to not accept call queue calls when they leave. This is important so the admin doesn't have to have every person's password to change a setting.